Differences between Psychology and Coaching

A frequent question asked by people who, in one way or another, have contact with the field of psychology, is about the differences between the Coaching and the Psychology.

Or what is the same, wonder about the difference in the theoretical basis, the roles and the methods used by both professionals, psychologists and coaches.

Differences between psychology and coaching

To begin with, you might ask yourself something basic: How is Coaching defined and what is it based on? And in the same way, what are the characteristics that make both disciplines very different in their approaches?

Delving into both disciplines

Lets start by the beginning. The coach (that is, the Coaching professional) is a expert in communication skills you are looking for your client or coachee be able to discover her goals in life. The coach is in charge of accompanying the client and doing everything necessary so that these commitments and goals are achieved.

As we can see, Coaching is a technical methodology that applies concepts and theoretical bases of psychology to specific cases and adapting them to the client's requirements

. However, the concept of Coaching has managed to establish itself as a professional work not necessarily linked to people who have thoroughly studied behavior and mental processes; that is, the psychologists.

This disconnection of Coaching with respect to psychology has allowed people who do not have fundamental studies on the behavior and the techniques of psychology offer Coaching services without more validation than some private courses of training.

Psychology as a guarantee

A psychologist, on the other hand, is someone who has studied for years and rigorously and systematically all issues related to the human psyche, the development of skills, and the techniques and methods that allow a person to improve in her field and to achieve her personal and professional goals. In addition to their regulated university training, the psychologist must be part of a official professional college, thus accepting some common ethical and deontological guidelines for all professionals in the sector, a fact that guarantees the client the seriousness and trust in the service that will be provided.

The psychologist has specific training on the communication and interview techniques, in addition to greater knowledge about psychological processes, a fact that allows him to be a better interpreter of the client's personality and his psychosocial and / or work casuistry.

There are still more reasons to trust a psychologist than a coach with no psychology studies. The psychologist has to his credit various methodological approaches and different techniques with which to deal with the client, depending on their personality or your goals. It can advise and give guidelines for action, train different capacities, and ultimately can intervene directly on the needs of the client.

The coaches not psychologists follow a different methodology that is based on suggesting and enabling the client's life from the conversation and the Socratic method, but it cannot intervene directly since it is neither empowered nor does it have the resources to do so.

Coaching that is promoted as something that is not

Many psychology professionals complain about the way Coaching professionals without university studies are promoted. Coaching, not being governed by any professional association that guarantees the good practice of its members, has absolute freedom to use questionable promotion and marketing methods, and may apply excessive fees that do not correspond to the quality of the service or the training of the coach.

Therefore, if what you are looking for is a quality service that can be adapted to your needs and objectives, It is preferable that you contact a psychology professional who, in addition, I have knowledge of Coaching.